Investigating the changing rights and freedoms of Indigenous Australians, 1957-1975

Topic: History, Civics and Citizenship, Society and Environment, Indigenous Studies, English, Media Studies
Type: Curriculum materials
Years: 8–12

Key Curriculum Links: Time, Continuity and Change; Culture; Natural and Social Systems; Investigation, Communication and Participation, Thinking Processes and Communication

Main purpose and content of the unit of work

This year is the 70th anniversary of the 1938 Day of Mourning and Protest. Held on 26 January, this Aboriginal-only protest meeting was a response to the 150th anniversary celebrations of the arrival of British settlers in Australia, and the inferior citizenship status of Indigenous people.

This theme of the struggle for full Indigenous citizenship rights is a significant and continuing part of Australia's history.

The National Museum of Australia now has a wealth of primary and secondary source material available to students of this theme on its website, Collaborating for Indigenous Rights.

In this unit we provide a timeline of developments from the 1950s to the 1970s, with suggestions for ways that students can explore aspects of the theme further through the rich resources of the National Museum of Australia website.

The student activities included in this unit cover the following topics:

• key concepts of land rights and civil rights
• Indigenous rights timeline, 1930–79
• Warburton Ranges controversy, 1957
• Albert Namatjira and citizenship, 1958–59
• Social service benefits, 1954–64
• Mapoon, 1962–64
• Yirrkala, 1963–71
• Equal wages, 1963–66
• Freedom ride, 1965
• Wave Hill walk off, 1966–70
• Lake Tyers, 1962–70
• Aboriginal Embassy, 1972

Attachments
Full versions of the Investigating the changing rights and freedoms of Indigenous Australians, 1957–1975 studies unit are available as follows:
> Investigating the changing rights and freedoms of Indigenous Australians: full version, colour (PDF 3545 kb)
> Investigating the changing rights and freedoms of Indigenous Australians: full version, black & white (PDF 1074 kb)

You can also download the colour version in sections as follows:
> Investigating the changing rights and freedoms of Indigenous Australians: Part 1 (PDF 650 kb)
> Investigating the changing rights and freedoms of Indigenous Australians: Part 2 (PDF 1012 kb)
> Investigating the changing rights and freedoms of Indigenous Australians: Part 3 (PDF 1612 kb)
> Investigating the changing rights and freedoms of Indigenous Australians: Part 4 (PDF 463 kb)

If you are unable to download the above resources, please contact the Education section at education@nma.gov.au.

Links

1. The Museum and Ryebuck Media have also produced an interactive to help students investigate the significance of the 1967 Referendum. The interactive presents students with a range of evidence to help them decide whether the 1967 Referendum should be included in an Australian Human Rights Hall of Fame.

Go to: http://www.australianhistorymysteries.info/ahm2/casestudies.html
and select 'Interactive' adjacent to 'Freedom Ride and 1967 Referendum – What do they tell us about Australian attitudes?'

2. The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, with the support of the HTAV and the Victorian Association for Social Studies Teachers, has produced an excellent online unit of work on the 1967 Referendum. The associated website also provides links to many additional useful websites. The unit can be found at:

http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/support/level5/referendum_act.html

3. Collaborating for Indigenous Rights website